The Château de Chanteloup was an imposing 18th-century French
château
A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions.
Nowaday ...
with elaborate gardens, compared by some contemporaries to
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
. It was located in the
Loire Valley on the south bank of the river
Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
, downstream from the town of
Amboise
Amboise (; ) is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Today a small market town, it was once home of the French royal court.
Geography
Amboise lies on the banks of the river Loire, east of Tours. It is also about away f ...
and about southwest of the royal
Château d'Amboise
The Château d'Amboise is a château in Amboise, located in the Indre-et-Loire ''département'' of the Loire Valley in France. Confiscated by the monarchy in the 15th century, it became a favoured royal residence and was extensively rebuilt. Kin ...
. From 1761 to 1785 Chanteloup belonged to
King Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
's prime minister, the
Duke of Choiseul
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...
. The château was mostly demolished in 1823, but some features of the park remain, notably the
Pagoda of Chanteloup, a significant tourist attraction.
History
Origins
In the 16th century the site was nothing more than a
tenanted farm, but it was elevated to a
fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...
in January 1668. François le Franc, a fruit seller to the
Duke of Alençon
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, t ...
(youngest son of
Henry II of France
Henry II (french: Henri II; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I and Duchess Claude of Brittany, he became Dauphin of France upon the death of his elder bro ...
and
Catherine de Médicis
Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King H ...
), purchased it on 7 June 1583 and erected a house with a chapel. He became the mayor of Amboise in 1588. Claude-Arnoul Poncher, who acquired the property by his marriage to Marie-Madeleine le Franc (daughter of François le Franc, grandson of François le Franc, the fruit seller), sold it on 21 October 1695 to Louis le Boultz, the Grand Master of Waterworks and Forests of
Touraine
Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vie ...
,
Anjou Anjou may refer to:
Geography and titles France
* County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou
**Count of Anjou, title of nobility
*Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France
**Duk ...
and
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
. Around 1700 Louis le Boultz created large, well-ordered gardens and added other structures, so that it was no longer a simple country house.
[Chenu & Stainier 2014, p. 2.]
File:Château de Chanteloup, 1708 perspective view – Gallica 2007 (composite).jpg, "General perspective view of the house, courtyard, service courtyard, gardens, woods, vineyards, and park of Chanteloup from the entrance side with the environs, all situated near Amboise, and view toward the Loire River" (1708)
1708–1761: D'Aubigny
Creation of the château
On 22 February 1708, Louis Le Boultz sold the house and
seigneury
''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (or ...
of Chanteloup to Jean Bouteroue d'Aubigny, who also acquired the office of Grand Master of Waterworks and Forests of France for the ''département'' of Touraine, Anjou and Maine. D'Aubigny was the secretary for the
Princesse des Ursins Princesse (French 'princess') may refer to:
*"Princesse", single hit for Julie Zenatti
* Princesse (Nekfeu song)
*La Princesse
La Princesse is a 15-metre (50-foot) mechanical spider designed and operated by French performance art company La Ma ...
from 1701 to 1714, a period when she was very influential at the court of
Philip V of Spain
Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...
, the grandson of
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
. D'Aubigny hired the well-known French architect
Robert de Cotte
Robert de Cotte (1656 – 15 July 1735) was a French architect-administrator, under whose design control of the royal buildings of France from 1699, the earliest notes presaging the Rococo style were introduced. First a pupil of Jules Hard ...
in 1711 to remodel the house into a château. Robert de Cotte also worked on the Princess's apartments at the
Royal Palace in Madrid and on designs for the Spanish king's country estate on the outskirts of Madrid, the
Buen Retiro Buen is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Anders Buen (1864–1933), Norwegian typographer, newspaper editor, trade unionist, and politician
*Hauk Buen (1933–2021), Norwegian hardingfele fiddler and fiddle maker
*Knut Buen (bo ...
. The Château de Chanteloup was probably intended for her future use, but she was never to see it. At her death in 1722, as her sole heir, d'Aubigny retained sole possession of the château and its park.
D'Aubigny's focus in 1711, when construction began, was on Spain and the south. Robert de Cotte modified the central part, the ''
corps de logis
In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal block of a large, (usually Classical architecture, classical), mansion or palace. It contains the principal rooms, state apartments and an entry.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dict ...
'' and the two pavilions at its ends (most of which already existed), and added the lateral wings flanking the ''
cour d'honneur
A ''cour d'honneur'' (; ; german: Ehrenhof) is the principal and formal approach and forecourt of a large building. It is usually defined by two secondary wings projecting forward from the main central block (''corps de logis''), sometimes wit ...
'', a design typical of a château, so that the ensemble faced south. The principal entrance to the forecourt leading to the château was on the south side, on the road to Spain. There was a passageway from the ''cour d'honneur'' through the west wing to the service court (''basse cour'') and stables on the west. The remodeling included the creation of an east-facing gallery in the east wing and a chapel in the northwest corner, both with a project of decoration entrusted to
Henri de Favanne, d'Aubigny's favorite painter, who had already worked on d'Aubigny's Parisian ''
hôtel''.
File:Château de Chanteloup, plan du rez-de-chaussée – RMN.jpg, Plan of the '' premier étage'' (first floor), 1711 (Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France, Paris)
File:Château de Chanteloup, plan du deuxième étage – RMN.jpg, Plan of the ''deuxième étage'' (second floor), 1711 (Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France, Paris)
File:Henri Antoine de Favanne. La bataille d’Almança ou La bataille de Villaviciosa (v. 1714).jpg, ''The Battle of Almança'' or ''The Battle of Villaviciosa'', study by Henri de Favanne for the Grande Galerie (private collection)
File:Favanne- 'Les Royaumes de Valence et d'Aragon se rendent à Philippe V, roi d'Espagne' – Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille – RMN.jpg, ''The Kingdoms of Valencia and Aragon Surrender to Philip V, King of Spain'', by Henri de Favanne for the Grande Galerie ( Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille)
Creation of the French formal gardens
D'Aubigny also extended and enhanced the gardens and the park, which due to the terrain and the river were mostly to the south. The park was divided into numerous geometrically arranged groves of tall trees (''
bosquets
In the French formal garden, a ''bosquet'' (French, from Italian ''bosco'', "grove, wood") is a formal plantation of trees in a wide variety of forms, some open at the bottom and others not. At a minimum a bosquet can be five trees of identical s ...
''), bordered by alleys lined with a variety of species of trees, and decorated with ornamental ponds. It was enclosed on the east, west, and south by a wall and on the north by a moat, and encompassed an area of about 500 ''
arpents
An arpent (, sometimes called arpen) is a unit of length and a unit of area. It is a pre-Metric system, metric French units of measurement, French unit based on the Roman Ancient Roman units of measurement#Length, ''actus''. It is used in Quebec, ...
'' ().
D'Aubigny died in the Château de Chanteloup in April 1732.
[ Saint-Simon, who died in 1755, described Chanteloup in the period after d'Aubigny's death, as "one of the most beautiful and singular places in all France, and the most superbly furnished."
A plan of 1761 from the Municipal Library of ]Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...
shows gardens around the château in the formal French style, perfected by André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre (; 12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700), originally rendered as André Le Nostre, was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He was the landscape architect who designed the gar ...
in the latter half of the 17th century, with parterre
A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...
s of '' broderie'' and lawn, galleries of topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...
, extensive ''bosquet
In the French formal garden, a ''bosquet'' (French, from Italian ''bosco'', "grove, wood") is a formal plantation of trees in a wide variety of forms, some open at the bottom and others not. At a minimum a bosquet can be five trees of identical s ...
s'' (especially to the east and southeast), water basins, tree-lined paths and kitchen garden
The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...
(''potager'') on the west side, south of the stables and other service buildings.
File:Pierre Lenfant, 'Vue de Chanteloup prise des portes de la route d'Espagne' 1762 – Moreau 2008 p03-1.jpg, View from the south of the Château de Chanteloup in 1762, showing the Porte d'Espagne (Spanish Gate), painted by Pierre Lenfant ( Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours)
File:Chanteloup- Plan géométral, 1761 – Bibliothèque municipale Tours – Grateaux 2015 p. 70 (detail).jpg, Detail from a plan of 1761 (north to the left), showing the French formal garden
The French formal garden, also called the (), is a style of garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order on nature. Its epitome is generally considered to be the Gardens of Versailles designed during the 17th century by the ...
s (Bibliothèque Municipale, Tours)
1761–1785: The Duke of Choiseul
Grand Park
The Marquise d'Armentières, a descendant of d'Aubigny, sold the château in 1761 to King Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
's prime minister, the Duke of Choiseul
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...
, who also acquired adjoining land, increasing the size of the estate to 6,000 arpents (). For comparison, the gardens and park of Versailles, when they reached their greatest extent under Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, covered an area of . A 1761 general site plan, from the French National Archives
The Archives nationales (, "National Archives" in English; abbreviated AN) are the national archives of France. They preserve the archives of the French state, apart from the archives of the Ministry of Armed Forces and Ministry of Foreign Aff ...
in Paris, shows that one of the first changes Choiseul made was to cut numerous tree-lined avenues and alleys in complex geometric patterns in the newly acquired Forest of Amboise to the south of the château, creating a Grand Park. Seven of the avenues converge on the half-moon (''demi-lune'') parterre of the Spanish Gate, forming a classic French ''patte d'oie
The French term ''patte d'oie'' (literally "goose foot", in English sometimes referred to as a "crow's foot") describes a design whereby three, four, or five or more straight roads or paths radiate out from a central point, so called from its res ...
'' (goose-foot pattern), a feature seen at several grand French châteaux of the 17th century, including the Château de Richelieu
The Château de Richelieu was an enormous 17th-century château (manor house) built by the French clergyman, nobleman, and statesman Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642) in Touraine. It was demolished for building materials in 1805 and almost nothing ...
, Vaux-le-Vicomte
The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte (English: Palace of Vaux-le-Vicomte) is a Baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne department of Île-de-France.
Built between 1658 and 1661 for Nicolas Fo ...
, and Versailles.
Master plan
Choiseul engaged the architect Louis-Denis Le Camus to modernize and enlarge the château. A master plan (''grand dessein'') was developed which was never to be completely realized.[Grateau 2015, p. 84.] A version of 1761 at the Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...
shows numerous proposed modifications and additions to the château of Robert de Cotte. For example, this plan shows a theatre wing running east from the southern end of the east lateral wing, which is not seen in numerous later representations of the château. Other features, which were realized in one form or another, included additional courtyards, stables, and service buildings to the west of the château. Six miniature paintings by Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe dated 1767, which decorate a gold snuffbox, show the architectural composition as intended by Choiseul and his architect, such as the theatre wing, rather than that which had actually been built.[
File:Plan du château et du parc de Chanteloup – Gallica 2017.jpg, Master plan of the Château de Chanteloup of 1761, north at the top (]Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...
)
North facade and entrance
In 1765, one of the additions actually executed was the extension of the north facade to the east and west with two 9-bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
, open peristyle
In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle (; from Greek ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön ( grc, τετράστῳον or τετράστοον, lit=fou ...
s, recalling the Grand Trianon
The Grand Trianon () is a French Baroque style château situated in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was built at the request of King Louis XIV of France as a retreat for himself and his ''maîtresse-en ...
at Versailles. Each was topped with a promenade enclosed with balustrade
A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...
s decorated with ornamental vases and terminated with rectangular pavilions, the one on the east with a Salle des Bains (Bath Hall), and the one on the west with a chapel. Each of the matching pavilions was raised by one storey and covered with a terrace with a balustrade.
File:Chanteloup, The Seat of the Duke de Choiseul – Antiquariat, Wien (AB) (cropped).jpg, View of the north facade with the colonnades and pavilions added by Louis-Denis Le Camus
Choiseul and Le Camus also shifted the main entrance to the north, allowing access from the road along the Loire by which carriages arrived from Amboise and Paris. The great entrance grille, the Grille Dorée (Golden Grille), was 12 ''toise
A toise (; symbol: T) is a unit of measure for length, area and volume originating in pre-revolutionary France. In North America, it was used in colonial French establishments in early New France, French Louisiana (''Louisiane''), Acadia (''Acadi ...
'' (about 24 yards) in length and was flanked by two guard pavilions, which still exist. The gate was surmounted by the Choiseul arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
. Although the Choiseul arms have been lost, the gate itself is now found at the prefecture
A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...
of Indre-et-Loire in Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...
. The forecourt contained a sunken central parterre
A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...
, surrounded by a retaining wall (''ha-ha
A ha-ha (french: hâ-hâ or ), also known as a sunk fence, blind fence, ditch and fence, deer wall, or foss, is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier (particularly on one side) while preserving an uninterrupted view ...
''), and in its center, an ornamental basin (''pièce d'eau'') with two water-jet fountains (''jets d'eau''). The carriage drive forked, passing to either side of the parterre and crossing two parallel bridges over the moat into the entrance court, which had a long central parterre with '' broderie'' of cut grass and low bands of flowers and a circular central ornamental basin with a single ''jet d'eau''.
File:Château de Chanteloup - view from the north. miniature by Van Blarenberghe, cropped.jpg, View of the north entrance in 1767 (minitature painting by Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe for the Chanteloup gold snuffbox, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
)
File:Château de Chanteloup, north (entrance) facade – Gallica 2007 (adjusted).jpg, View of the entrance courtyards and north facade (anonymous drawing with watercolor
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
, Bibliothèque nationale de France)
Waterworks
The gardens of the Petit Parc (Small Park) to the south of the château were modified very little but there was a significant exception: a long terraced cascade running from the ''demi-lune'' parterre of the former Spanish Gate to a ''pièce d'eau'' just to the south of the ''cour d'honneur''. The ''demi-lune'' parterre itself was transformed into a lake. The cascade is depicted in two of Van Blarenberghe's snuffbox miniatures and in a 1768 painting by Jean-Pierre Houël
Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houël (28 June 1735 – 14 November 1813)Conisbee 1996. was a French painter, engraver and draftsman. During his long life, Houël witnessed the reign of Louis XV, the French Revolution, and the period of Napoleon's F ...
, part of a series of six overdoor
An "overdoor" (or "Supraporte" as in German, or "sopraporte" as in Italian) is a painting, bas-relief or decorative panel, generally in a horizontal format, that is set, typically within ornamental mouldings, over a door, or was originally intend ...
s for the music room of the château, of which four survive.
File:Château de Chanteloup, view to the south with the cascade, miniature by Van Blarenberghe.jpg, View to the south, showing the garden cascade, the half-moon lake, and the ''patte d'oie
The French term ''patte d'oie'' (literally "goose foot", in English sometimes referred to as a "crow's foot") describes a design whereby three, four, or five or more straight roads or paths radiate out from a central point, so called from its res ...
'' (miniature painting by Van Blarenberghe for the Chanteloup gold snuffbox, Metropolitan Museum of Art)
File:Houel- Vue du château de Chanteloup prise de la cascade – Musée des Beaux Arts, Tours.jpg, View of the south facade from the terraced garden cascade (overdoor
An "overdoor" (or "Supraporte" as in German, or "sopraporte" as in Italian) is a painting, bas-relief or decorative panel, generally in a horizontal format, that is set, typically within ornamental mouldings, over a door, or was originally intend ...
of 1768 by Jean-Pierre Houël
Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houël (28 June 1735 – 14 November 1813)Conisbee 1996. was a French painter, engraver and draftsman. During his long life, Houël witnessed the reign of Louis XV, the French Revolution, and the period of Napoleon's F ...
, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours)
Around 1770 another important water feature was added, a canal, leading to the south side of the ''demi-lune'' lake and aligned on the central axis of the château and the Grand Park. The canal is shown on a 1770 site plan attributed to Le Camus and is depicted in paintings by Louis-Nicolas Van Blarenberghe and Nicolas Perignon. The ''demi-lune'' lake and the canal still exist, although the canal is filled-in and has become a lawn.
File:Chanteloup site plan by Le Camus – André 1935 after p28.jpg, Site plan attributed to Louis-Denis Le Camus, (collection of Thierry André)
File:Van Blarenberghe, 'Le Lac de Chanteloup' – Musée du Louvre – Grateau 2015, p89.jpg, The lake and canal of Chanteloup (painting attributed to Louis-Nicolas Van Blarenberghe, Musée du Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
)
File:Nicolas Perignon, 'Sixième vue du canal et de la patte-d'oie du château de Chanteloup', vers 1770 – Grateau 2015, p. 96.jpg, View of the canal and the ''patte d'oie'' (painting by Nicolas Perignon, private collection)
Colonnades on the ''cour d'honneur''
Colonnades were an architectural feature that seemed to please Choiseul. Le Camus used them again to fill in the setback of one ''toise'' (about two yards) of the south facade of the ''corps de logis
In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal block of a large, (usually Classical architecture, classical), mansion or palace. It contains the principal rooms, state apartments and an entry.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dict ...
'' (facing the ''cour d'honneur'') with a seven-bay colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...
d portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
, including a central ''avant-corps
An ''avant-corps'' ( it, avancorpo or , plural , german: Risalit, pl, ryzalit), a French term literally meaning "fore-body", is a part of a building, such as a porch or pavilion, that juts out from the ''corps de logis'', often taller than othe ...
'' of three bays with a wider set of steps ( perron) leading down to the courtyard. The portico can be seen in a view of the south facade of the château taken from the middle of the cascade, painted around 1770 by Nicolas Perignon. In the center of the ''corps de logis'', Le Camus created a large entrance hall, through which one could pass to reach the courtyard on the south, the ''cour d'honneur''. To the left of the entrance hall was a series of three large rooms, and to its right a large dining room with windows facing north, rather than the ''cour d'honneur'' as before.
File:Nicolas Perignon, 'Cinquième vue du château de Chanteloup prise du milieu de la cascade', vers 1770 – Grateau 2015, p. 95.jpg, View of the south facade of the château from the middle of the cascade, showing the colonnaded portico topped with a balustraded terrace (painted by Nicolas Perignon)
File:Nicolas Perignon, 'View of the cascade from the château', c1770 – Grateau 2015, pp. 102–103.jpg, View of the parterre of the ''cour d'honneur'', the ''pièce d'eau'', and the garden cascade taken from the terrace above the south portico (painted by Nicolas Perignon)
Le Camus later added colonnades to two new pavilions extending and terminating the south ends of the lateral wings flanking the ''cour d'honneur''. The one attached to the east wing contained a complete apartment, comprising an entrance foyer, antechamber, grand chamber (with windows facing east), and on the south, a boudoir, office (''cabinet''), closet (''garde-robe''), and a staircase leading to the floor above. This apartment was used by Choiseul's sister, the Duchess of Gramont, when she came to visit. The old part of the east wing contained the apartment for the duke, a large gallery, and the apartment for the duchess, Louise-Honorine Crozat, daughter of Louis-François Crozat, marquis du Châtel, and heir to many of the Italian paintings from the collection of her great-uncle, Pierre Crozat
Pierre Crozat (1665–1740) was a French financier, art patron and collector at the center of a broad circle of ''cognoscenti''; he was the brother of Antoine Crozat.
Biography
The brothers Crozat were born in Toulouse, France, the sons of a we ...
. Some of these paintings were displayed in the gallery. The matching pavilion attached to the west wing contained the apartment of the '' officier de bouche'' (chef), an office and a laundry. The old part of the west wing contained a new kitchen (closer to the main dining room), offices, and the servants' dining room.
File:Château de Chanteloup, floor plan by Chateigner – André 1928, after p. 44 (Fig. 7).jpg, Plan of the ground floor of the Château de Chanteloup (north at the bottom) with the colonnades added by Louis-Denis Le Camus to the ''cour d'honneur''
File:Château de Chanteloup (Indre-et-Loire), côté du jardin – Gallica 2007 (adjusted).jpg, View of the south (garden) facade with the colonnades and pavilions added by Le Camus (undated drawing from the Bibliothèque nationale de France)
''Jardin anglo-chinois'' and pagoda
In December 1770, Louis XV banished Choiseul from court and ordered him to retire to Chanteloup. Before returning to Paris in 1775, after the lifting of his exile by Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
, Choiseul introduced a large, informal '' jardin anglo-chinois'' (replacing the French formal gardens east of the main axis of the château) and commissioned the construction of what is now the former château's most famous feature, the seven-storey, -tall Pagoda of Chanteloup, built in 1775 by Le Camus. The pagoda was located just to the north of the ''demi-lune'' lake. The garden cascade flowing down to the ''pièce d'eau'' near the ''cour d'honneur'' was suppressed at this time and transformed into a bowling green
A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls.
Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...
(''boulingrin''), apparently due to a lack of sufficient water to keep it flowing.
File:Jardins anglais de Chanteloup en 1775, gravé par Le Rouge – André 1935, after p. 32.jpg, Site plan of the Chanteloup '' jardins anglais'' in 1775
File:Van Blarenberghe, 'Vue de la galerie des Bains du château de Chanteloup du côté du jardin pittoresque' – Grateau 2015, pp 112-113.jpg, View to the east with the Bathing Pavilion and the edge of the ''jardin anglo-chinois'' (painting by Louis-Nicolas Van Blarenberghe)
File:Pagode de Chanteloup, elevation drawing – Grateau 2015, p. 119.jpg, Elevation drawing of the pagoda
File:Van Blarenberghe, 'La Pagode de Chanteloup' – Musée du Louvre – Grateau 2015, p 120.jpg, View of the pagoda (painting attributed to Louis-Nicolas Van Blarenberghe, Musée du Louvre)
File:Vue de la pagode de Chanteloup, prise du grand salon du château – Gallica 2007 (adjusted).jpg, View of the pagoda from the grand salon of the château (undated drawing from the Bibliothèque nationale de France)
1785–1823: Decline and demolition
After Choiseul's death in 1785 the château was purchased by the Duke of Penthièvre, who added to the collection of paintings, most notably works by François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
. The French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
began a period of decline, the property becoming a public good in 1797 and suffering abandonment until 1802, when it was bought by the chemist-industrialist Jean-Antoine Chaptal
Jean-Antoine Chaptal, comte de Chanteloup (5 June 1756 – 30 July 1832) was a French chemist, physician, agronomist, industrialist, statesman, educator and philanthropist. His multifaceted career unfolded during one of the most brilliant periods ...
.
Chaptal, a rich man, was minister of the interior
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
under Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
and became a member of the French Senate
The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly (France), National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 34 ...
in 1804. He expended a considerable amount of money restoring the property and in 1808 declared "it was fit to receive a king."[Crosland 2008.] He raised sheep, distilled brandy
Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...
, and experimented with beet
The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant, usually known in North America as beets while the vegetable is referred to as beetroot in British English, and also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet, dinner beet or golden beet ...
farming
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
and the large-scale production of beet sugar
A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wit ...
.
In order to pay heavy debts owed by his son from investments in the chemical industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials (oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. The ...
,[Crosland 2008.] Chaptal decided to sell. The Duke of Orléans
Duke of Orléans (french: Duc d'Orléans) was a French royal title usually granted by the King of France to one of his close relatives (usually a younger brother or son), or otherwise inherited through the male line. First created in 1344 by King ...
purchased the section of the park with the Pagoda, but declined to buy the entire domain. In 1823 Chaptal sold the remainder of the park and gardens and the château itself to a consortium of goods merchants, the " bande noire" ("black bandits"), including the socialist banker Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin
Barthélemy, or Barthélémy is a French name, a cognate of Bartholomew. Notable people with this name include:
Given name
* Barthélemy (explorer), French youth who accompanied the explorer de La Salle in 1687
* Barthélémy Bisengimana, Cong ...
and the speculator Baudrand, acting for the wealthy . The group dismantled most of the château, dispersing architectural souvenirs throughout the Touraine, many of which can still be seen in public and private places.
1823–present: Domaine de Chanteloup
Only some of the park, two pavilions, a semicircular ornamental pool, and a few other garden features survive, the most important of which is the Pagoda, restored in 1910 by architect René Édouard André (son of the landscape architect Édouard François André). The site, the Domaine de Chanteloup, was designated a French ''monument historique
''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...
'' in 1937.
File:Chanteloup, pagode, commencée le 25 7bre 1775, achevée le 20 août 1776, dessin by Bergeron, 1845 – Gallica 2007.jpg, Pagoda of Chanteloup as sketched by Bergeron in 1845
File:ChanteloupPagode.jpg, Pagoda of Chanteloup in 2007
File:Chanteloup pagodepavillon20100223.JPG, Pagoda and a pavilion
Choiseul-Chanteloup snuffbox
The château and its gardens were depicted by Louis Nicolas van Blarenberghe in six miniatures (1767, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, commissioned by the Duke of Choiseul), which were used to decorate a gold snuffbox. The paintings show the architectural composition as intended by Choiseul and his architect, rather than that which had actually been built.[
File:Choiseul box (Chanteloup) 1 box, Metropolitan Museum of Art DP170001 (cropped).jpg, Choiseul-Chanteloup snuffbox
File:Choiseul box (Chanteloup) 2 top "View of the Château from the Entrance Screen" Metropolitan Museum of Art DP170000 (cropped).jpg, Northern view of the château from the entrance screen, the "Grille Dorée"][Today there is a street near this location, the Avenue de la Grille Dorée.]
File:Choiseul box (Chanteloup) 4 front "View of the château from the south" Metropolitan Museum of Art DP169997 (cropped).jpg, View of the garden facade from the south
File:Choiseul box (Chanteloup) 5 back "View of the château from the east" Metropolitan Museum of Art DP169995 (cropped).jpg, View of the château from the east
File:Choiseul box (Chanteloup) 3 bottom "View from the Château to the South" Metropolitan Museum of Art DP169996 (cropped).jpg, View from the château toward the south, showing the site of the future Pagoda of Chanteloup (1775) in front of the semicircular lake
Notes
Bibliography
* André, R. Édouard (1928). "Le Domaine de Chanteloup", pp. 19–96, in ''Chanteloup'' by André Hallays, R. Édouard André, and Roland Engerand. Tours: Maison Alfred Mame et fils. .
* André, R. Édouard (1935). "Documents inédits sur l'histoire du château et des jardins de Chanteloup", pp. 31–35, in ''Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français'', no. 1 (1 March 1935). .
* Carré de Busserrole, Jacques-Xavier (1879). ''Dictionnaire géographique historique et biographique d'Indre-et-Loire et de l'ancienne province de Touraine'', volume 2. Tours: Imprimérie Rouillé-Ladevèze
Copy
at Google Books.
* Chenu, Rachel; Stainier, Lauranne (2015). ''Les vases des jardins de Versailles à Chanteloup'', Master Histoire de l'art, François Rabelais University
The University of Tours (french: Université de Tours), formerly François Rabelais University of Tours (french: Université François Rabelais), is a public university in Tours, France. Founded in 1969, the university was formerly named after th ...
, Tours
Online pdf
at ash.univ-tours.fr.
* Conisbee, Philip (1996). "Hoüel, Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent", vol. 14, p. 799, in ', edited by Jane Turner, reprinted with minor corrections in 1998. New York: Grove. . Also a
Oxford Art Online
(subscription required).
* Crosland, M. P. (2008). "Chaptal, Jean Antoine", ''Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography''. Charles Scribner's Sons
Archived copy (13 December 2017)
at the archive.org.
* Gallet, Michel (1995). ''Les Architectes parisiens du XVIIIe siècle''. Paris: Mengès. .
* Grateau, Alexandre (2015)
''De la Pagode de Chanteloup à Chanteloup''
travail personnel de fin d'études. Ècole nationale supérieure d'architecture et du Paysage de Bordeaux.
* Hoog, Simone (1996). "Versailles", vol. 32, pp. 369–374, in ''The Dictionary of Art
''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...
''. New York: Grove. . Also a
Oxford Art Online
(subscription required).
* Holmes, Caroline (2008). ''Follies of Europe: Architectural Extravaganzas''. Suffolk: Garden Art Press. .
* John, Richard (1996). "Le Camus, Louis-Denis", vol. 19, p. 26, in ''The Dictionary of Art
''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...
'', edited by Jane Turner, reprinted with minor corrections in 1998. New York: Grove. . Also a
Oxford Art Online
(subscription required).
* MBA Tours (2007). ''Chanteloup, un moment de grâce autour du duc de Choiseul'', press release for the exhibition held from 7 April to 8 July 2007, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours
Online copy
at the museum website.
* Moreau, Véronique (2008). “Les jardins du duc de Choiseul à Chanteloup”, Colloque ''l’Esprit des jardins : entre tradition et création'', 5–6 September 2008, Conseil Général d'Indre-et-Loire
Online copy
* Neuman, Robert (1994). ''Robert de Cotte and the Perfection of Architecture in Eighteenth-Century France''. Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press. .
* Saint-Simon, Louis de Rouvroy, duc de (1857). ''The Memoirs of the Duke of Saint-Simon on the Reign of Louis XIV and the Regency'', translated and abridged from the French by Bayle St. John, volume 3. London: Chapman & Hall
Copy
at Google Books.
* Sotheby's (2007)
Sotheby's Old Master and 19th Century Drawings and Paintings, Paris, 19 June 2007.
* Watson, F. J. B. (1966). "Choiseul Boxes", pp. 141–158, reprint from ''Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe'', edited by A. Kenneth Snowman. Boston Book and Art Shop. .
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Houses completed in the 18th century
Neoclassical architecture in France
Châteaux with formal gardens in France
Demolished buildings and structures in France
Buildings and structures demolished in 1823
18th-century architecture in France